


If Given The Chance

by OhMe-OhMy (DeathsLastPrayer)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Comedy, Drama, M/M, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-25 08:13:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2614688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathsLastPrayer/pseuds/OhMe-OhMy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Would you take it? Would you be able to rest your faith in humanity on the outstretched hand of one person? Naruto isn’t so sure about that but he has nothing left to lose. A story in which Sasuke is the one saving Naruto (in his own way) for a change. SasuNaru…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everything Happens For A Reason

**Author's Note:**

> This story is written in a drabble-esque form. I say drabble-esque because all of the chapters lean more towards the short and crisp side. But it should still be enjoyable and pack a nice little punch!

He was going to do it.

He'd prepared for everything –the letter he'd left on his bed would be more than enough to explain why things had turned out as they had. If anyone read it. He was used to being ignored or overlooked. Used to being stepped all over no matter how bright his smile or how booming his voice.

It wasn't a secret that no one cared. He would stay awake at night wondering if there had ever been a point in time in which someone had. He'd had dreams once upon a time ago. Vast and broad and sparkling dreams in which he was surrounded by people who were so swept away with him that he was happily suffocating. In those brief illusions, he was cared for. Loved. He was happy.

As reality would have it, he wasn't happy or loved.

Some days were harder than others.

In particular, the day prior had been the worst to date. And, as it was, he wasn't as strong as he initially believed himself to be. He couldn't keep moving through life when, day after day, his hopes were shattered and his dreams bounded further off into the distance.

Grasping a joy so overwhelming that he couldn't handle it… He'd thought it a possibility. Had believed in it for a long time. But it wasn't.

It just wasn't.

So now, Naruto Uzumaki would take the final leap. As soon as night fell, he would cast himself down five floors from the roof of the school –right into the trash tub out back if he did things just right. No one would know because no one cared.

And life would go on. Perhaps, in his next life, he would be reborn as someone that was loved.

"How'd you get up here?"

Blond locks shook as he whipped around, gaze caught in mesmerizing dark eyes. "Huh?"

"How'd you get up here?"

Naruto opened and closed his mouth several times before he frowned. "Does it matter?"

He knew the boy standing in the doorway and staring at him with that blank expression. Sasuke Uchiha… Popular, prestigious, athletic, wealthy, intelligent, charismatic, arrogant, and a bit icy but, according to gossip, it made him all the more desirable –Sasuke Uchiha. He was the boy who sat on a comfortable throne at the top of their school social ladder (right beside his eldest brother) and he was merely an 8th grader. Almost a freshman. But he had promise and potential and that's what people thrived on. They aspired to be around him or to be him. Naruto didn't blame them. Sasuke had and was everything that he wanted in himself as well.

"It doesn't." Sasuke shrugged and allowed the door to shut behind him.

Naruto watched him, his mind moving in a frenzied panic as Sasuke walked across the roof to stand beside him against the railing. When he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket, Naruto was entirely caught off guard.

"Want one?"

He shook his head. He had his own pack with two sticks of a-cancer-that-he-would-never-get in his own back pocket.

"You got a light?"

He did. When he lit Sasuke's cigarette, he couldn't help but to stare at the last person he would ever expect to be standing beside him, cigarette dangling from thin lips.

Black eyes appraised him carefully before Sasuke exhaled a stream of smoke and raised a dark brow, "What? I don't look like the type to smoke?"

Naruto scoffed. "Honestly, I don't give two shits about your bad habits." How could he care about someone else and their problems when he had his own.

One of which being the fact that he was still resolved to end his life that night. To end everything and move on to the next life peacefully. He could only pray that he'd find what he was looking for there. There. With his parents. With his grandparents. He would be happy _there_.

"That's a first." Sasuke flicked the ash over the railing, his gaze never once straying from Naruto. "Are you new?"

That genuine inquisition threw Naruto for a loop. It broadened the spectrum of his insignificance and cemented his resolve. He and Sasuke were in the same first through fourth grade classes. They had a few classes together all throughout middle school. Now, as they were set to start their freshmen year, they were supposed to share a homeroom teacher for the next four years. And yet, Sasuke was asking him if he were a new student.

The irony was so crushing he couldn't help laughing. Even as he managed to say, "Nah, I'm not new."

"Hmm…"

Silence lapsed between them as Naruto sat against the railing, gaze turned towards the sky. Mocking as it was, the world was still beautiful. Thriving. He closed his eyes and basked in the sunlight –allowed it to soak into him as the wind brushed across his skin. It was the cusp of summer. That small in-between transition from spring. Relishing in his last day of school up on the roof and enjoying what he could of the summer before it was all over… oddly enough, he felt a bit free. He didn't have to worry or care about any of the worldly things that he felt far too young to handle. At least, not anymore.

"What's your story?"

One bright blue eye cracked open to spot Sasuke moving to sit beside him. "My story's not important and you probably don't care anyway so I'll do us both a favor by not sharing it."

"You're right. But I'm curious –humor me." It wasn't a request so much as it was a demand.

A demand that some part of Naruto –the piece that still had a firm grasp on life- wanted to give into. The nagging voice at the back of his mind was chanting _hecareshecareshecares_ on an endless loop and even if that was just a smidgen of concern, it was more than Naruto had seen in years.

Sasuke ground his cigarette into the brick and glanced at the sky. "What are you doing up here?"

"I'm thinking about what the fuck I'm gonna do with my life." Which was, in essence, the truth. "I got kicked out of my apartment last night. Which, granted, royally sucked but it was nice out and I got to sleep at the park. The only real downside was that I had to come to school this morning the same way I'd left yesterday…"

Naruto didn't particularly care about being kicked out of his apartment but he would've liked to grab his photo album. Would have liked it a lot if he could have seen those pictures of his family one last time. But everything happened for some reason or another –that he wholeheartedly believed in. And, if nothing else, he'd be seeing them soon enough.

Still, he managed a soft smile as his head lulled to the side, cobalt irises trained on Sasuke's rather passive face. "But, ya know, worse things have happened."

Sasuke snorted. "You've been through worst experiences?"

"Not everyone can live a life on a bed of roses." Naruto knew that all too well.

"Did your parents kick you out?"

It was Naruto's turn to snort. "My parents have been dead for a while now. I had my grandparents but then, they left me too." His morose and lax tone shook him a bit but the truth was always such a jarring thing.

Everyone dear to him died and he felt it was time he joined them.

A few more hours…

"Hmm… you want to stay at my place?"

"What?" The word sprung from his mouth as he stared at Sasuke slack jawed.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't really give a fuck if you do or if you don't but I figured I'd offer."

"Why?"

Sasuke stared at him then, face as impassive as it'd been since their gazes initially met. "I felt like being generous just now but it's not going to last."

"Your parents-"

Sasuke smirked. "My dad'll be pissed but my mom will probably take pity on you. He's pussy whipped so whatever she says goes."

Ah, Naruto understood. Sasuke was one of _those_ kids. The types who liked to piss off daddy for attention. At least the guy had a dad to piss off.

Sasuke stood up and dusted himself off. "You have until I reach the door to make up your mind."

Naruto watched him as he walked across the roof and towards the door. Those seconds felt like an eternity as he chipped away at his resolve and tugged on his reserve hope for humanity. Sasuke was the last person he ever would have expected such a handout to come from but who was he to judge. A chance was presenting itself and he had nothing to lose. Nothing at all because he had already lost it all long ago.

Before Sasuke could grasp the doorknob, Naruto jogged up to him, chest heaving and heart pounding. "Wait for me, bastard." He couldn't remember the last time he'd smiled so hard that his cheeks hurt but it felt nice.

"I'm pretty sure we just established that I'm not fatherless… moron." Sasuke's tone was light as he swung the door open. "Come on, I want to beat the bell."

When Naruto crossed the thresh hold between the outside and the staircase, he didn't bother to look backwards. It would be too tempting to not cling to the death he'd been preparing for. Far too tempting. And he wasn't that strong. He kept his focus on Sasuke. That strong back was like his sole beacon of hope –a hope that shone brightly amidst the darkness. Naruto wanted so badly to run away from it. To go back and do as he'd set his mind to do months ago. But then, Sasuke's arm brushed against his own and reeled him back to reality. Reminded him that he was being given a chance where one hadn't existed before.

Wasn't that all that he'd been waiting for? A chance? Proof that someone or something out there in the world cared about him?

He was going to assume that this was that proof and he could at least have the courage to see where it would take him.

After all, everything happened for a reason.

* * *

  
**TBC…**

* * *

**If you dug it, drop me a line** **. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Brand New

At the Uchiha palace (he thought it more appropriate to deem their manor as such), Naruto was received as Sasuke had told him that he would be.

The lady of the house, Mikoto Uchiha, was a gorgeous person both inside and out. She had asked to hear his story (in great detail) to which she sympathized to an aching degree and decided to take him in. She vowed to treat him like her own and there was no hesitation or pondering over her decision. She didn't ask him to verify and she didn't fuss. She planned. Made notes and calls and requests that they, as in the two of them, would follow through with the following day.

Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's eldest brother, was incredible. Very befitting of his crown at the pinnacle of the high school hierarchy. He was everything that Sasuke was and more but that was to be expected –he was ahead by four years. He was charming and nice –a smooth talker without the silver tongue. He welcomed Naruto to their home as though he'd personally invited him himself.

Fugaku Uchiha was an intimidating man. He, in no way, was pleased by the sudden arrival of an outsider in his home. In fact, he'd been livid and Mikoto was the only one capable of reeling in his ire. He did not mince his words when he told Naruto that he fully intended to have him investigated. Fugaku promised that, if even one detail didn't fit with Naruto's sob story, he would be out on his ass before he could utter a goodbye.

Naruto took the promise to heart.

In the days that followed his initial induction to the family, his time was consumed by Mikoto. She took him shopping for clothes that he was far too modest to accept but she pushed them upon him anyway. She demanded that he decorate what would constitute as his room because he was going to be her honorary child and he would be afforded the same luxuries as those she'd birthed into the world herself.

It was all a very surreal experience.

If Naruto were being honest, he couldn't stop waiting for the catch. What was the price of such good fortune? He really, really, wanted to know because the Uchiha's (Fugaku included) had taken him in without asking for anything in return.

Why?

Why did they care when they didn't know him?

Why did they want to help him?

Why weren't they suspicious or cautious?

Why had Sasuke reached out a helping hand?

Why did he accept it?

He was waiting for the world to crumble. Waiting to wake up on a cloud or broken in a trashcan. But that moment never came.

By the end of his first week in what he would tentatively call his new home, Naruto learned five key things:

-The first was that Mikoto was an angel and he would love her until the day he died. 

-The second was that Sasuke and Itachi had an incredible relationship that he envied but they were very open to incorporating him for reasons that he had yet to uncover.

-Third, Sasuke was and wasn't like the boy he'd studied from afar –he was so much more.

-Fourth, Fugaku Uchiha never made promises that he couldn't keep but he also wasn't as cruel as he presented himself to be.

-Lastly, (and Naruto would never forget this) it was terrifying but he was sure he'd found a place where he belonged.




He didn't intend to simply take from the Uchiha family that had extended a hand to him and would one day be able to repay their kindness. That was enough incentive to live. To continue discovering what other curve balls the world intended to throw at him.

And there was no turning back. No jumping ship when things went south. He lost that opportunity the day he followed Sasuke from the rooftop. Death as an opt out wasn't and couldn't be his get out of jail free card. But he was sure it would be ever so tempting.

* * *

  
**TBC…**

* * *

**If you dug it, drop me a line** **. Thanks for reading.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Naruto has a home! And things can only go up from there, right? Right. Hope you enjoyed.


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